


You Can't Spell Space Without Ace

by F-117 Nighthawk (F117_Nighthawk)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (he's also greyro but I'm not sure if that's gonna be explicitly stated), Ads Are Bad, Aromantic Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, Asexual Allura, Asexual Awareness Week, Asexual Keith (Voltron), Asexuality, Bi grace Lance, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff and Angst, Gay Keith (Voltron), Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings, M/M, Sexuality Crisis, Trans Female Pidge | Katie Holt, and annoying, asexual awareness week 2017, biromantic grey-asexual Shiro, discussions of how the world would be different with more asexals, mostly based off my own experiences, panromantic demisexual Hunk, the others to be added as they appear, yes they’re ALL ASPEC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-21 16:16:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12461367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/F117_Nighthawk/pseuds/F-117%20Nighthawk
Summary: Keith had never really thought about sexual attraction until that fateful night up on the roof.He really had to thank Mr. Lagerfeld some day for taking that point off.A fic I'm writing for Asexual Awareness Week 2017. Heavily based off my own experiences.





	1. A Rooftop and a Revelation

**Author's Note:**

> Y'ALL I SAW A HUGE DOUBLE RAINBOW TODAY YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?  
> KEITH IS HELLA GAY AND HELLA ACE SORRY I DON'T MAKE THE RULES
> 
> (Also I'm so sorry Keith instead of giving you something fluffy for your birthday I'm giving you a sexuality crisis.)  
> (It could be worse I could be posting Moonbathers AKA the angstiest angst ball I've been working on since the beginning of September)
> 
> EDIT 1/11/19: So. I love this fic. It means a LOT to me. But I've drastically changed my plans in Dark Matter and it's no longer fitting as is. Because of my love for it (and how many people I seem to have helped on their journey to self acceptance [seriously you have no idea how much still seeing people comment on this fic means to me I'm like. Passing on what fandom has done for me and ;;; anyWAY]) I don't wanna edit it to make it fit into Dark Matter. That would remove much of the important background and mess with the soul of this fic. Changing just one character's journey would require rewriting several chapters worth of scenes. So I'm taking it out.  
> Even so, this fic still hits at the core of Dark Matter, and really all my stuff: self discovery and acceptance of yourself and those around you. So just know, the sexuality and gender headcanons I established here are still true there. And the first chapter definitely happened as is.

Keith was lying on the roof of their house looking over a health project when the conversation first came up. Shiro was leaning against the little bit of chimney doing physics, home for the week from the Garrison. They often came up here when the house got too small, their mutual craving for the stars overtaking them. Their mom scolded them the first time she found them up there, but after a few more times of them clambering up to the roof they found a small ladder installed on the side of the house. Apparently she had decided that since she wasn’t going to get her space-bound boys off the roof, she might as well try and make sure they didn’t fall on their way up. 

Keith glared at his paper, wondering why he’d had a point taken off. He looked between the assignment sheet, the rubric, and his poster, unable to figure it out. Huffing in annoyance, he scooted over with the papers next to his brother. “Help.”

Shiro looked up from his physics at Keith. “What’s up?”

“I can’t figure out why Mr. Lagerfeld took a point off of this. I did everything the assignment said, but his note says “I asked for a  description of sexual attraction, not the definition and.......what’s the difference?” He handed the sheets over and crossed his arms. 

Shiro looked them over, frowning in concentration for a moment. “Do you know what other kids put for that question?”

“Riley put something about heat? And wanting to touch someone? It really didn’t seem like it was correct but,” Keith shrugged, “not my paper.”

Shiro considered his brother for a moment, then considered the assignment. It was honestly a stupid assignment and the teacher had obviously not thought it through enough if someone like Keith wasn’t understanding the question. Unless..... “Well, I think Mr. Lagerfeld wanted the feeling of attraction, not what it is.”

Keith stared at him and responded to that with a flat “What.”

“He wanted more what you said Riley put; he wanted what sexual attraction  _ feels _ like when it is experienced. Heat, arousal, the desire to have sex with someone, that sort of stuff.” Shiro turned to hand the papers back and stopped when Keith just kinda blinked at him.

“That doesn’t make any  _ sense.” _

“What?”

Keith sputtered, incredulous. It didn’t make any  _ sense!  _ “Who just-just-just  _ looks _ at someone and goes “hot damn, I wanna have sex with that person.” Is that an  _ actual thing? _ Do people  _ do _ that?”

“Keith, why do you think one-night stands exist.”   
“I don’t know! I hadn’t really thought about that!”

Shiro smiled, suspicions mostly confirmed. “Have you ever heard of asexuality, Keith?”

Keith’s sputtering stopped. “No.”

“Well, it means that someone doesn’t experience sexual attraction. Most people who identify with the word react to learning that sexual attraction is  _ an actual thing _ much like you just did.”

Keith’s world screeched to a stop. What. People _actually_ just _looked_ at someone and said “hey I wanna have sex with you.” People _thought_ that. He felt like there was something flying over his head and no matter how high he jumped he wasn’t going to be able to catch it. People looked at someone and were aroused just from the sight of it? Was that what “hot” meant? People had sex for _fun_ with _strangers?_ _What???????????????????????????????????????????????????_

“Maybe you should look it up. Here, I’ll send you a link.” Shiro pulled his phone out and quickly typed something in. Keith heard his phone beep in his jacket pocket. “Just think it over, okay?”

Keith numbly nodded and pulled his phone out. He didn’t have any other homework and even if he did he wouldn’t be able to focus on it right now. His mind was a swirl of things he couldn’t name, but most of all the word  _ asexual _ on repeat, the definition floating in front of his eyes. The link on his phone said AVEN and pointed to the overview page.

Keith stared at the definition for an indeterminate amount of time before Shiro broke into his thoughts by saying “You know I’m bi, right?”

Keith dragged himself back to awareness, processed what his brother had just said, and snorted. “I am  _ well _ aware, Shiro. You espoused Lydia for a while and now every time you can you bring up Matt and I’ve seen how you interact. I don’t know why you won’t believe me and Katie when we both say your crush is mutual.”

Shiro had the gall to look embarrassed and looked away. “Okay. Good.”

There was a pause. “You know I’m gay, right?” Keith squeaked out.

“No. Thanks for telling me, though.”

“Well, I mean, I think I’m gay. I’ve had crushes on guys before, but it was never like “I want to have sex with him right now” and whatever else.”

Shiro looked back over at him and smiled. “Asexual, Keith. Look into it.”

“But, don’t I have to choose? I can’t be both, can I?”

“You can be both. It’s just a question of romantic versus sexual attractions. Like, okay, uhhh...” Shiro trailed off for a second, gathering his thoughts. “Okay, so to most people I say I’m bi because that’s my romantic orientation. I have crushes on a lot of genders, but I don’t necessarily have sexual attraction to them. I’m also grey-ace; I’ve really only experienced sexual attraction to two people in my life.”

Keith’s world was off kilter again. First of all, Shiro had just come out to him  _ again _ somehow. Second, the word  _ asexual _ was still floating around in his head, third he could be gay and asexual at the same time??? 

He did the only thing he could think of and attempted a joke. “Is one of those people Matt?”

He was definitely not expecting Shiro’s face to turn bright red and a mumbled “yes” to come out of his mouth. 

“AAA,  _ nope, _ did  _ not _ need that image, why did you answer that, nope nope nope, goodnight, I’m going to bed.”

Shiro laughed. “Goodnight Keith. Think it over, will you?”

Keith nodded and collected up his papers, then slung himself over the edge of the roof. He had a lot to process. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic means a lot to me. Not only am I writing it for asexual awareness week about one of my favorite characters ever, but it's been about a year since I realized I'm asexual. This fic, despite being _super fucking hard_ at times, has given me an opportunity to look back on the past year and see how much I've grown into my identity.  
>  So yeah. Keith's struggles are gonna mirror my own for the first chapter or three. And cause it kept getting really heavy and hard to write there's also a FUCK TON of fluff and I seem to have reversed the common trope of Keith flopping in Shiro's room complaining about his crush sooooooooo  
> Hopefully I'll post one chapter every day this week.
> 
> ALSO H A P P Y B I R T H KEITH *throws ace flag confetti*


	2. Acceptance and Acecord

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am having a Not Good day. Stupid fucking college apps.  
> SO here have some good big bro Shiro and freaking out Keith and then broganes fluff

Later Keith would look back and realize just how weird his mental state was for the next twenty four hours. The conversation with Shiro stood out, picture perfect. There was a moment in Spanish where the teacher asked him a question and he  _ couldn’t move, _ no matter how desperately he wanted to. He remembered giving a presentation in chemistry and, while still talking about the physics behind ion bonds, thinking that he had  _ no idea _ what he was saying. His brain had been on autopilot the entire day, nothing storing in short term memory, only those three scenes stored in long-term He didn’t even recall what he had been thinking about all day that he had been so distracted.

Well, Keith  _ knew _ why, objectively. He’d spent hours after he’d left Shiro sitting on the rooftop scrolling through AVEN, curled up under all the blankets he could fit on his bed, learning all he could. It was a lot to process, a lot to relate to, a lot of finally understanding just what the entire world was geared towards treating to. 

Realizing you’re different from the rest of the world in one simple fundamental way really shakes your perception of the world. Keith had barely accepted the idea he was gay, and here he was, suddenly realizing that he was something  _ else _ too. Something even more foreign to general society. Most of society didn’t know that asexuality was a thing. How did he know anyone would accept this? Could he even be sure that he wasn’t just simply mixing up sexual attraction with something else?  _ What was sexual attraction? _

He needed to talk to Shiro.

Keith came home from school late that Friday to find Shiro sitting on the couch, history homework sitting finished on the coffee table, TV on playing the science channel.

“Hey, Keith. Okasan got stuck with the night shift so she’s not gonna be back til morning.”

“Mmmm,” Keith acknowledged, still stuck in his own head, whirling, whirlingwhirlingwhirlingwhirling. He dropped his backpack by the door and collapsed on the couch. Shiro automatically moved his arm and wrapped it around him as he scooted closer until his head was leaning against his shoulder. 

“You okay?”

He nodded. It wasn’t a  _ lie, _ per se.

Shiro didn’t seem to believe him. Perhaps his lack of words was more telling than he thought. “Something happen today?”

He hesitated. Now that he was actually faced with the conversation, he couldn’t. He wanted to ask his brother so many things, tell him so many things, get so many answers, but he just. Couldn't. He shook his head.

“You sure?”

He nodded again. Fuck, why couldn’t he do this? He moved with Shiro as he pulled his phone out and quickly typed out a message. 

“I.....” Fuck it. He needed to do this. Anxiety could fuck off he needed to talk to someone and  _ Shiro knew. _ Shiro had told him about this he could  _ help _ and was obviously fine with it himself. “I was. Thinking. Last night.” Ghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh why was this so harddddddddddd. “And I think. Maybe.  _ Maybe. _ .......It.......might fit? But like, I want an actual definition of sexual attraction. I want to  _ know.” _

“Keith, trust me, if you experienced it, you would know and you  _ definitely _ wouldn’t have had that reaction last night. Because you remember what I said? Yeah that’s basically what it feels like.”

“But how do I  _ know? _ There has to be some way to figure it out.”

“Have you ever looked at someone and said “wow I want to have sex with them?””

Keith considered for a moment. “No? I’ve looked at people and gone “wow you look cute” or “I wanna look at you more,” does any of that count?”

“That’s aesthetic attraction. You just wanna look at someone, or draw them, nothing more.”

Keith slipped down Shiro’s side until his head was in his lap. He huffed out a sigh and crossed his arms. But how did you  _ know? _

Shiro seemed to get the source of his frustration and sympathetically carded his hand through his hair. He pulled his phone out and checked something, then handed it to Keith. “Here, read this.”

Keith took it and looked at the mini comic Shiro had pulled up. It was a silly little metaphor about turtles in a pond, and how it was  _ really hard _ to be sure that you had no turtles in your pond but did it really matter? He gave the phone back to Shiro. “Is that really it?”

His brother nodded. “Pretty much. And, even if you do find a couple turtles? Like I did? It’s not nearly as many turtles are in other people’s. It all comes down to you and how you want to label yourself.”

Keith considered that. He supposed, objectively, it was sound reasoning. But one can’t prove a null hypothesis. 

“Here, I have something else that might help you. You ever heard of discord?”

“The messaging app?”

“Yeah, I’m on an ace server. I think it might help you to explore if you join.”

“Alright.” 

Shiro smiled, bright and happy, and Keith smiled back. Now that he’d had the conversation, he felt a lot better. Some of his anxiety had been assuaged, some questions answered. He felt capable of relaxing again, like his head was screwed back on straight. 

Well, not  _ straight. _

Laughing at his own joke, he sat up again and gave Shiro a hug. He enthusiastically hugged back, then pulled back and said, “Go put your stuff in your room and change into something suitable for accidentally-on-purpose falling asleep on the couch, then download the app and ping me. I’ll text you my code.”

Keith grabbed his stuff and hurried up the stairs. Setting the app to download he threw his uniform in the laundry and shoved some sweatpants and a comfy shirt on. He picked his phone up and read the last message from Shiro:

**Keeps Denying His Crush:** ArcturusBound#3983

**Keith:** Really Shiro

**Keith:** A Starfield reference

**Keeps Denying His Crush:** Hey I like the movies

**Keith:** *eyeroll emoji*

**Keeps Denying His Crush:** Hey you love them too. Plus its an *actual star*

**Keith:** just for that guess what I’m making my name

**Keeps Denying His Crush:** Keith no

**Keith:** Keith yes

Keith opened discord and made himself an account, then poked Shiro.

**SaiphSerafine:** Gimme that link

**ArcturusBound:** oh my god Keith

**SaiphSerafine:** Hey if you’re the ship then I’m the character

**ArcturusBound:** Serafine

**ArcturusBound:** _fine_

**SaiphSerafine:** I mean have you seen his facial hair?

**ArcturusBound:** Oh my god I’m not dealing with this here’s the link

Keith hesitated. This was a good idea, right? Yeah. Yeah, it was a good idea. Shiro was already there and could show him the ropes. Shiro already  _ was _ showing him the ropes. This. Was. A. Good. Idea.

He clicked the link before he could talk himself out of it.

**ArcturusBound:** And there he is

**SaiphSerafine:** uh hello?

**Apollo18:** Hello! Welcome to the server! We’re a big happy fam always looking for new members!

**ThatsNoMoon:** We’re actually pretty small, but we’re active.

**ArcturusBound:** I gave you your roles, Saiph, but if you wanna introduce yourself go ahead

**SaiphSerafine:** I’m Saiph, I love space, and Arcturus just introduced me to asexuality yesterday and uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

**SaiphSerafine:** I might be??? Maybe??? Probably??

**AntaresSix:** Well you’ve come to the right place!

**Elendilmir:** oh my god they’re both space nerds

**ArcturusBound:** hey, you of all people have no leg to stand on here

**Elendilmir:** Actually out of everyone I think I have the most leg to stand on

**ArcturusBound:** LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU IS NAMED AFTER A SPACE MISSION, A CELESTIAL OBJECT, OR A FICTIONAL ONE OF THE PREVIOUS TWO

**ArcturusBound:** THE SERVER IS NAMED spACE FOR GODS SAKE

Keith burst out laughing when he realized that Shiro was right. Somehow, even he had managed to name himself after a star.

**ArcturusBound:** Saiph I can hear you laughing from down here

**ArcturusBound:** Nevermind, I’ll stop my attempts to convince the rest of you that we’re all nerds

**ArcturusBound:** I’m making food

**SaiphSerafine:** wait what

**SaiphSerafine:** Okasan put  _ you _ in charge of food?

**ArcturusBound:** Yeah?

**SaiphSerafine:** DOES SHE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME

**SaiphSerafine:** YOU SOMEHOW MANAGED TO EXPLODE PEANUT BUTTER EVERYWHERE

**SaiphSerafine:** WHAT YOU WERE MAKING DIDNT EVEN INVOLVE PEANUTS

**AntaresSix:** jkflahewfeu what

**SaiphSerafine:** DONT YOU DARE GO IN THE KITCHEN IM COMING BACK DOWN

He shoved his phone in his pocket and ran down the stairs. “SHIRO I SWEAR.”

“Okay! Okay! I’m standing in the doorway! I’m not even in the kitchen!”

“I don’t know how Okasan didn’t ban you from the kitchen.”

“Because you need me to reach anything above the second shelf.”

Keith glared at his six-three brother from his barely-five-two height. Snickering, Shiro held his hands up in mock surrender. “What are you making, oh mighty kitchen overlord?”   
“Some decent mac’n’cheese that isn’t out of a gross packet,” Keith muttered, pulling a saucepan and a noodle pot out of the corner cupboard. “I can’t believe Okasan left you in charge of food.”

“I don’t think we ever told her about the peanut butter incident,” Shiro mused, sitting down at the kitchen table.

Keith pulled a recipe book off the shelf and slammed it on the table in front of Shiro. “If you insist on being in here read me the recipe. Also I’m  _ definitely _ telling Okasan about the peanut butter thing when she gets home.”

“She won’t believe you.”

“Shiro, I have photo evidence of it.” He grabbed the macaroni from the pantry and shook some out into the pot, then hauled the whole thing over to the sink and filled it with water.

“There had got to be a better way of going about that.”

Keith hauled the now-full pot back onto the stove with a truly impressive display of strength. “Got a better idea?”

Shiro sighed and rested his face in his hands. “Are you ready for the recipe yet?”

Keith was preoccupied with climbing on the counter so he could pull the salt and flour down. One foot on the counter, one foot on a stool, he was in a slightly precarious position. If the stool slipped he was going to end up in an involuntary split.

“Keith, no.”

“Keith, yes.”

Sighing, Shiro stood up and grabbed the flour and salt. “Keith, no.”

Keith pouted and placed his feet back on the floor. “I get them just fine when I get home before you.”

“How much salt do you put in the water? The whole thing?”

“NO! No no no, give me the salt, nope,” Keith snatched the container and turned to grumble over the pot. Shiro smiled and sat back down at the table. 

“Wasn’t the peanut butter thing Matt’s fault?”

Keith snorted as he fiddled with the stovetop. “Shiro. Shiro.  _ How _ would it have been his fault. He wasn’t even in the room.”

“I’m just saying!”

“Cut me a fourth of a cup of butter. That’s half a stick.”

“You were in the room, couldn’t it have been your fault?” Shiro tossed him the butter.

_ “Shiro. It was entirely you.” _

“I’m just saying that maybe the great Kitchen Overlord would be wise to consider his own mistakes.”

Keith poured flour in the melted butter. “I have never made a mistake while cooking that destroyed the room  _ or _ made something completely inedible.” 

“Neither have I.”

_ “We’ve been discussing the peanut butter incident for how long?” _

“What are you even putting in there?”

“Cheese. Don’t change the subject,” Keith sent a mock glare at him over his shoulder while still pouring shredded cheese into the saucepan. “The peanut butter incident was entirely your fault and you destroyed the kitchen. Nothing I have done even approaches that level.”

“What about the paprika thing?”

“Okay seriously?  _ That’s _ the best you come up with?”

“I....do have to acknowledge that in the kitchen you have a much better track record. Speaking of which, I haven’t read any of this recipe.”

“It was mostly to distract you.”

“Yeah I know.”

There was a pause in conversation while Keith stirred the sauce and noodles. When they were done he poured the mix into a huge serving bowl and placed it on the table. He grabbed two smaller bowls and spoons and served some of the mix into both. 

“Thanks, Keith. I know I’m worse than a disaster in the kitchen and I have no idea how you do any of this.”

Keith ducked his head and spooned some noodles into his mouth. “It’s just food. Like chemistry.”

They muched in silence for a few minutes, both hungrier than they thought. “Starfield movie night?”

“Starfield movie night.”

Akane Shirogane came home at oh-four-hundred to find her sons splayed out on the couch, blankets tangled around them, and Netflix open to the last Starfield movie. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is actually really important to me as Keith kinda shoves the first four months of the past year for me into one day and probably comes out better for it.  
> His day long freak out at the beginning is almost verbatim from my memory, except I was in Latin class and I had an APEGS presentation on the _Exon Valdez._ Then Shiro introduces him to a discord server. Their acecord is lifted directly from my own experiences on the FuckYeahAsexual server. I can't help but feel that if I had someone like Shiro to introduce me to my acecord a lot sooner I would've been saved a lot of pain. Acecord helped me get over my own internalized aphobia (which Keith shows next chapter) and helped me settle in my own identity way faster than I would have had I not been on tumblr that fateful march twentieth. I can credit them with so much love and kindness and respect, the ability to accept myself for who I am.
> 
> So this is dedicated to FuckYeahAsexual's discord server. Y'all know who you are. Thank you infinitely many times for being there through everything, helping me discover myself, helping me through college freakouts and AP test freakouts and being good friends full of puns, funny stories, and intelligent discussions on random things. And of course the ability to devolve into random shoe pictures at literally any point in time.  
> I love you all.
> 
> Also @ my personal ace qrew (you know who you are) I hope I've been a good Shiro


	3. Aerospace AroAces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *runs in screaming* HOLY SHIT I'M DONE WITH EARLY ACTION AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA  
> maybe I'll have time to do shit hahahahaaaaaaaaa  
> (no. no I won't.)
> 
> All spelling mistakes in this chapter are purposeful for purposes of authenticity.

It took Keith a while to settle into his new identity. He spent months after that first day looking for turtles in his pond. Every glance at every even vaguely-pretty person brought on a crisis. Was this sexual attraction? Romantic? Aesthetic? Sensual? What was the difference, how could he tell, _why was this so hard._ Why couldn’t he be _normal_ like the rest of the world, why did he have to be this, why did he have to spend his days trying to figure this out? If he were allo this would all be so _easy._ He could tell if he were gay or straight or bi or something else but _no_ he couldn’t tell if he experienced this so he was forced to spend his days trying to figure this out.

In a low moment he ended up spilling this all out to one of the people on the discord server and somehow they struck up a friendship. Moon told him her own story, her journey to accept herself in multiple ways and how so many people had helped her. She told him about running across the server when it was just a baby, one channel, and how much it had helped her. Moon gave him advice and told him to not be quite as intense, these things came with time.

Keith was a little skeptical of that, but did try to stop over analyzing every single thought that crossed his mind that could have to do with his sexuality. There were still nights where he stared at the ceiling, mind whirlingwhirlingwhirling, thinking about it, anxiety not letting him sleep. Those were the nights he pulled his phone out and opened discord. An hour talking with them was guaranteed to quiet his mind to the point where he could finally sleep.

The day after one such night he took a screenshot of something funny and sent it to Katie, then put his phone in his pocket to walk to the library, but his phone almost immediately buzzed that Katie had sent him something.

 **Ktoe:** KEITH

 **Ktoe:** KEITH WAIT HOLY SHIT

 **Ktoe:** IS THAT SERVER CALLED spACE

 **Ktoe:** IM MOON

 **Keith:** yes?

 **Keith:** WAIT WHAT

Keith froze, eyes wide and disbelieving. He got a discord notification and opened it.

 **ThatsNoMoon:** KEITH ARE YOU TELLING ME WEVE BEEN TELLING EACH OTHER ABOUT OUR PROBLEMS ANONYMOUSLY WITHOUT KNOWING IT

 **SaiphSerafine:** HOLY FUCKING SHIT KATIE

 **ThatsNoMoon:** HOW DID WE NOT KNOW THIS

 **SaiphSerafine:** HOW DID WE NOT FIGURE THIS OUT

 **ThatsNoMoon:** HOLY SHIT

 **ThatsNoMoon** : wait. Wait oh mY GOD

 **ThatsNoMoon** : IS ARCTURUS SHIRO

 **SaiphSerafine:** yes

 **ThatsNoMoon** : MATT IS ANTARES

 **ThatsNoMoon** : I HAD HIM COME ON SO HE COULD HELP ME TELL OUR PARENTS EVERYTHING

 **SaiphSerafine:** oH MY OGD

 **SaiphSerafine:** SHIRO TALKS TO HIM ALL THE TIME

 **SaiphSerafine:** SHIO COMPLAINS ABOUT HIS CRUSH ON MATT TO HIM

 **ThatsNoMoon** : OH MY HHID

 **ThatsNoMoon** : MATTS BEEN DOING THE SAME THING

 **SaiphSerafine:** HOLY SHIT

 **ThatsNoMoon** : HOW DID THEY NOT FIGURE THIS OUT

 **SaiphSerafine:** OUR BROTHERS ARE USELESS

 **ThatsNoMoon** : WE NEED TO TELL THEM

They both had the same idea at the same time and flipped over to the spACE server.

 **SaiphSerafine:** OKAY I SAID I WAS LEAVING FOR THE DAY BUT

 **ThatsNoMoon** : HOLY SHIT GUYS

 **ThatsNoMoon** : APPARENLY SAIPH AND I KNOW EACH OTHER

 **ThatsNoMoon** : AND BY EXTENSION ANTARES AND ARCTURUS DO

 **SaiphSerafine:** AND YOU KNOW HOW ANTARES AND ARCTURUS EACH HAVE HUGE CRUSHES THEY COMPLAIN ABOUT

 **SaiphSerafine:** THEYVE BEEN COMPLAINING ABOUT THEIR CRUSH

 **SaiphSerafine:** TO THEIR CRUSH

 **SaiphSerafine:** FOR MONTHS

 **Apollo18:** Oh my god what

 **Elendilmir:** FWEPWI WHAT

 **Rigel-ish:** ARE YOU SERIOUS OML

 **ThatsNoMoon** : @ArcturusBound @AntaresSix GET YOUR ASSES IN HERE

 **ThatsNoMoon** : WEVE BEEN TRYING TO GET YOU BOTH TO MAN UP AND CONFESS FOR MONTHS

 **SaiphSerafine:** WE HAVE UNDENIABLE PROOF

 **ArcturusBound:** what

 **ArcturusBound:** WAIT WHAT

 **AntaresSix:** Holy shit

 **AntaresSix:** BROGANES GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE RIGHT NOW

 **Sirius-ly:** Oh my god you call them that

 **Sirius-ly:** I’m making them a role for that

Keith ran down the hallway to Shiro’s room to find him staring at his phone. He skidded to a stop in front of him and Shiro looked up. “Oh my god oh my god.” There was a note of panic in Shiro’s voice.

“Whoa, hey, Shiro, _reciprocation exists._ Come on, we’re going over to the Holts and you two are sorting yourselves out and I’m talking with Katie.”

“Wh-but-Keith-what-”

 _“Come on.”_ Keith grabbed Shiro’s arm and dragged him down the stairs, yelling into the study: “Okasan we’re going to the Holts’!”

“I thought you were going to the library?”

“Change of plans!”

Akane Shirogane poked her head out of her study. She looked at them both and seemed to give a sort of internal shrug and said “Well, have fun!”

“We will!” Keith said, shoving Shiro’s coat on him and opening the door. He basically dragged a dazed Shiro the mile to the Holts’ house, reassuring him over and over that _he didn’t need to worry about it holy crap._

“Keith. Keith, I’ve been telling Matt about my crush on him for months without knowing.”

“Yes, we’ve established that and we’re going to sort it out.”

“He’s been telling me about his crush on me for months without knowing.”

“Shiro, _stop worrying.”_ Keith had a hard time not letting his exasperation with his brother into his voice. These things had been _established fact_ for the past twenty minutes they did not need endless repetition.

They finally got to the Holts’ and before Keith could poke the doorbell Katie opened the door. “Matt’s freaking out in his room.”

“Well we might need to carry Shiro up the stairs at this rate.”

“No. No I can-I can do this.”

Keith and Katie locked eyes for a moment, then looked at Shiro. “You sure?”

“No. But at this point I have to.”

Katie moved to let them in, Keith giving a not-so-subtle shove to Shiro in the direction of the stairs. They watched Shiro hesitantly take one step, then another, slowly making his way to Matt’s room. They heard him knock on the door and breathed a sigh of relief. Something was finally happening between their idiot brothers.

Keith followed when Katie motioned him into the kitchen and sat down at the island. She grabbed a giant box of goldfish and thumped it on the counter, sitting down next to Keith.

“Sooooooooooooo, ace?”

“Yep.”

“Cool, me too.”

There was a pause for a moment while she opened the goldfish and simply poured them on the table.

“Can I ask your romantic orientation too? I’m also aro, so I’m just kinda wondering.”

“I have absolutely no idea anymore. I’m pretty sure I’m gay? But? I found out that squishes are a thing and it just confused me because how do you know the difference?”

“Oh that is a conversation.”

Keith felt like a weight he didn’t know had been there was lifted off his chest. He had considered coming out to Katie before, but his anxiety and the fact that he still wasn’t certain in his own identity prevented him. He knew she was the person most involved in the queer community he knew as a trans girl, but he hadn’t even considered ever asking her about her sexuality. Yet, here they were, discussing asexuality over goldfish. This was quite possibly the happiest he had been in a while.

Their discussion moved from squishes to increasingly crazy metaphors for sexual attraction and they were too busy laughing and choking on goldfish from laughter to hear Shiro and Matt coming down the stairs. They stood in the doorway for a moment, smiling at their younger siblings, until the younger two noticed them.

“Are you finally sorted out?”

Shiro help up his hand, which was currently entwined with Matt’s; they both blushed a little.

“YAY!” They both shouted, knocking over the stools in their rush to pull the older two into a bear hug. “Now come on, we’re trying to think up how to make an ace cake.”

Keith was wrong. _This_ was the happiest he’d been in a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all I love Pidge and Keith and think they'd be best sibs.  
> Pidge's name in Keith's phone is actually my friend Katie's nickname in my phone 'cause I made a funny typo while yelling in the group chat  
> I like the next chapter and hopefully I actually have time to write the one after that tomorrow 'cause I'm gonna go collapse in bed now


	4. Aunyérë

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all your comments mean the world to me ;;;;  
> I love how many people are commenting that Keith's relatable, means I've been doing a good job and is also kinda reassuring? Because this is so heavily based off my own experiences its just.....nice to know I'm not the only one.

After the day where Shiro and Matt  _ finally _ got together, Keith settled into his identity a lot more. Knowing not only his brother but the person who was practically his sister were ace helped a ton. He and Katie exchanged ace puns on a daily basis, he made ace jokes at home and commiserated with Shiro on how weird some ads could get. He and Shiro even came out to their mom on the same day. Akane wrapped them up in a bear hug and told them she loved them and would always support them.

A week later Shiro stepped into the house to find Keith tearing up over a giant ace flag she had pinned to the living room wall. “I love Okasan.”

Shiro pulled Keith so he was leaning against him, smiling at the flag. “Me too.”

Keith entered the Galaxy Garrison the next school year and quickly rose to the top of his class. The teachers loved him, the kids were indifferent. He was known as good at the science behind flying, even if he wasn’t an engineer, as well as the top hand-to-hand, knife, and piloting student. The teachers told him he was a natural born leader, but a little too likely to go off by himself. 

The first time someone called him an ‘ace pilot’ he had to stifle giggles. Oh how right they were. 

One time he walked out of the simulator with his team and was suddenly accosted by a gaggle of people in his class. “Heyyyyyyy, Keith, how’s the best fighter in the class doing?”

Keith blinked at the speaker. She was taller than him, dark haired, leaning forward in a weird position. “I’m good? I’d really like to get....” he leaned around to see and saw maybe ten more people behind her, “through....”

She had one hand twirling a long strand of hair, head tilted. “How was your sim run?”

“Normal. I’m really hungry now though and you’re kinda blocking the way to the cafeteria.”

She pouted a bit. “You want to come eat with me?”

Keith was very confused. He had literally never seen this person in his entire life and was confused at why she seemed to have brought so many people along with her. Why was she asking him to come eat with her? He shrugged internally and told her: “I already have plans; I’m meeting my brother.”

“Your brother? What could be so interesting about your brother?”

“He’s my brother? I like talking to my brother?”

“Oy, Stella, leave the poor dude alone and let him get his food. You know how hard the sim sessions can get,” a voice came from behind the girl.

Stella turned around and looked angrily at the speaker who had come up and shouldered his way through her group. “Fine. Lance. You better not be sticking up just to get a piece of him yourself.”

“Pff, me? No way.”

The girl stalked off, still glaring at the person who had gotten her to back off. Keith looked at the dude, Lance, and sent him an appreciative salute before finally speed-walking his way down to the cafeteria for some much needed brunch. Over food he told Shiro about the incident, who burst out laughing.

“Keith, she was flirting with you.”

Keith just kinda stared at Shiro, utterly confused. “Why me though?”

“Because you’re the top pilot of your year, I’m guessing. And not to be weird but I have overheard people in the hall saying some  _ very _ suggestive things in reference to you.”

Keith filed the fact that apparently people found him attractive away to muse over at a later date. Then the car crash happened, then the Kerberos mission, then it went missing and he and Katie went on a rampage through the Garrison’s records, he got kicked out for helping Katie, Shiro crashed back on Earth in an alien escape pod, Katie and her Garrison team decided to tag along with him, they found an alien mechanical blue cat, and an alien princess. 

So yeah his sexuality really wasn’t very much of a concern to him at that point. 

Shiro’s, however, kept coming up.

“Keith, I’m really bi.”

Keith simply continued studying the new formations Shiro and Allura had come up with on his tablet while Shiro did push-ups on the floor of his room. 

“I still really love Matt though. Am I allowed to love more than one person?”

Keith finally looked over at his brother. “Shiro, you’ve spent how long in queer communities and you haven’t heard of the word polyamory?”

Shiro paused halfway through a push-up.  _ “Oh.” _

“Yeah. ‘Oh.’”

“How did I not think of that?”

Keith turned back to his tablet. “The signs have been there for a while now. Please don’t do the same thing you did with Matt and not tell her for months.”

He felt Shiro’s eyes on the back of his head. “How do you know who I’m talking about?”

Keith counted people off on his fingers. “Well you’re not talking about me or Pidge, Hunk and Lance are too young, I can’t imagine you with Coran and he’s probably really old anyway, Matt isn’t here and from the rest of the conversation you’re not talking about him, that leaves Allura.”

Shiro was now lying on his back on the floor, staring up at Keith’s ceiling. “What if Alteans don’t have polyamory? What if they don’t have any asexuals?”

Keith had never considered the fact that Altea might have not had asexuals, or not acknowledged them. He had become so used to being surrounded by queer people, especially asexuals, he had totally forgotten that some people had never heard of them. He had a sudden moment of panic but squashed it down. There was a simple fix to this: explain it to the Alteans. Determined, he stood up and walked out of his room to find Allura. 

He found her in the common room, playing with the mice and watching some Altean film. He sat down on the couch next to her, awkwardly.

“Oh, hello, Keith. What brings you out here?”

“Uhm.....” Shit, he had absolutely no idea how to start this conversation.  _ Why _ did he always rush into things without a plan and  _ why _ couldn’t anxiety have stopped him on the way here. “Can you tell me more about Altean courtship customs?” Oh god what was he doing.

Allura smiled slyly. “Does this line of questioning have anything to do with your brother?” Keith stayed silent and let her think what she wanted. She seemed to come to the correct answer and her smile broadened. “He really isn’t as subtle as he thinks he is.”

“He was subtle enough for Matt to not catch on.”

She shrugged. “Perhaps Alteans are simply better at reading social cues even from other species. What was it you wanted to ask me?”

“Do Alteans have polyamory?”

“You mean romantic attraction to more than one person at the same time?”

“Yes.”

“It was very common on Altea. My mother was one such example. I would  _ certainly _ not be opposed if you happened to tell your brother this fact.”

Well, that was one thing out of the way and one very happy Shiro in the near future. “I’ll tell him.” He hesitated on asking the next question. It was way more personal and had a much bigger impact on him than Shiro moping about for the foreseeable future. “What about, um, asexuals?”

Allura looked up from the mice. “Those who do not experience sexual attraction? Is that the correct translation?”

“Yeah.”

“Aunyéri. They were very common in our population. Less than half, but certainly not a small number. I believe I myself am one.”

Keith felt like he’d had the breath knocked out of him. An  _ alien princess _ had just admitted to him she was asexual.  _ Maybe half the Alteans _ were asexual. This was the life he lived. “Me too.”

Allura grinned brightly at him. “Nice to have a kindred spirit. None of the rest of you seemed to ever mention anything like it and I was beginning to wonder how to bring it up myself. Tell me, how many of your planet are aunyérë?”

Well  _ that _ was not a question he was prepared for. He shifted and picked up one of the mice in lieu of answering for a moment. “I don’t-Actually-On Earth asexuals weren’t exactly the most accepted of people. I was extremely lucky to meet two aces, one of whom introduced me to a community for us. Outside of that community I never really talked about it. Most of the world expects you to feel sexual attraction and some people will lash out if you tell them. I’ve heard horror stories.”

Keith looked up at Allura to find her eyes wide in surprise and face flushed in indignation. “Horror stories? Not accepted? How can Humans  _ survive _ like that? On Altea it was never expected that one felt sexual attraction, it was merely accepted either way! How are you not extinct if all you ever do is tear each other down over petty things like your _ sexual attraction?” _

He shrugged. “Unyielding stubbornness I guess.”

Allura sighed and rested her face in her hands. “If you happen to run across Shiro feel free to inform him of all I just told you and point him in my direction. I am quite willing to give him a lesson in it.”

Keith snorted and stood up. He was inevitably going to have to physically shove Shiro at Allura to prevent a repeat of Shiro’s Matt situation. “I’ll make sure he asks, although I can’t guarantee when.” Allura waved goodbye to him as he walked out, the bright smile back on her face.

On his way back to tell his news to Shiro, Keith poked his head in Jade’s hangar and as he predicted found Pidge tapping away at her computer. “Pidge, you got a moment?”

She glared at her computer for a moment, but then looked up. “Yeah I guess.”

“You should ask Allura about what Alteans think about asexuals.”

She blinked at him from behind her glasses. “Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy?”

“I think you’d be pleasantly surprised.”

Pidge inspected him for a moment before turning back to her computer. “Okay. Once I’m done with this.”

“Okay. Just, do it eventually?”

“Mhm,” she muttered, already deep in her project again.

Keith smiled at her and turned to head back to his room and Shiro. There was someone else who needed to talk with the Princess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter includes what is perhaps the most nerdy thing I have ever done: I've used Quenya as Altean before so in the process of writing this I decided to make up a word for asexuals.  
> Aunyérë: _noun,_ asexual; a person who has no sexual feelings or desires.  
>  (literally without-sexual-desire)
> 
>  
> 
> ~~Shirogane Akane is best mom 2k17~~


	5. Advertising Making Sense? Who Is She

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whooooops this is later than I meant it to be I've been freaking out about my MIT interview all day but??? It's done???  
>  ~~this chapter feels so stilted in the middle ghhhhhh~~

Keith liked to say that he was the only reason Shiro didn’t take two years to talk to Allura. Pidge agreed that his assessment probably wasn’t that far off the mark. Pestering by both of them over two weeks did little to convince Shiro that he was capable of talking to Allura.

Fed up, Keith hatched a plan. The first available day for team sparring, he walked up to his brother and said, in Japanese so he was sure to get his attention, “Takashi, if I win this bout you have to talk to Allura.”

He stood in front of Shiro, arms crossed, waiting. Shiro seemed surprised, but pondered the proposition. Still in Japanese, he asked, “What do you do if I win?”

Keith shrugged. “Meditate for twenty minutes?”

“Deal. You’re going down.”

Keith smirked. “I don’t think so.”

Keith heard the distinctive whir of Shiro’s arm and barely had time to throw his forearm between it and his head before it came crashing down. “Gotta be faster than that, Keith.” He lunged forward within Shiro’s range and threw his whole body weight against him, sending him stumbling back a step. He shifted his stance and stepped backwards, bringing himself to just outside Shiro’s range. Shiro grunted but quickly righted himself and came charging at him; Keith sidestepped and kicked at Shiro’s knee but misjugded the timing and missed. Shiro quickly turned his momentum in a circle and his arm came whipping through the air with a bear paw; Keith ducked and lunged forward, punching Shiro square in the solar plexus. Coughing, Shiro stepped backwards.

Sensing an opening Keith advanced again but ran straight into an elbow he didn’t sense coming. He brought up a hand to block a roundhouse kick, blocked a jumping kick to his head, then retreated back out of Shiro’s range. Mentally cursing the fact he was half a foot shorter, Keith circled and darted in at Shiro’s left, landing a series of hits that had Shiro backpedaling. Shiro came around with a leopard strike which Keith barely blocked by moving inside its range. He tried to get a strike in at Shiro’s neck but it was blocked and Keith didn’t have time to prevent the follow up from smacking his nose. Stumbling backwards out of Shiro’s range he quickly scanned Shiro, looking for a quick end to this. Shiro’s eyes widened in alarm at something and Keith growled, low and distinctly inhuman sounding. Lunging forward he shoved a forearm into Shiro’s solar plexus, kicked his knee out, swept him down to the ground, and planted a foot on Shiro’s stomach. He put more and more weight on it until Shiro tapped out.

“Fast enough for you?”

Shiro blinked up at him. “Your nose is bleeding. Shoot, did I do that?”

Keith brought a hand up to his face and discovered his nose was, in fact, bleeding. Huh, he hadn’t even noticed. He poked at it. “Stop worrying, it doesn’t seem broken and I’ve had worse.”

“Holy shit, Keith! I’ve seen you fight but  _ dios.” _

“Yeah! Man, the Garrison never taught us that stuff.”

Keith pinched his nose and moved his foot off Shiro, suddenly aware that the rest of the team was still in the room. He extended his free hand and helped Shiro up, who jogged over to the benches and came back with what seemed like a handkerchief. Raising an eyebrow at his brother, Keith took it and plugged his nose. 

Pidge came up next to them and said “You saw Keith during class, right?”

“Yeah, the instructor kept using him as a demonstration person.”

“He even taught Kerik some moves.”

Keith muttered through his plugged nose: “I was dot dearly  _ that _ good.”

“You both took karate,  _ taught by your mom no less, _ for how long?”

“Until she died.”

There was a pause in the conversation as Keith looked back on fun dojo sessions and sparring with Okasan. Allura came up and broke the silence with “That style seemed rather like our style of cumnamá. Do you think one of you could walk me through some of it?”

Keith quickly caught Pidge’s eye and motioned to Shiro and then Allura. She got the hint and grabbed Lance’s arm. “Here, come on, Lance, I need some help with a new project and you’re the perfect guinea pig.”

“I’b goidg to bake sure by dose is fide. Shiro, dod’t you dare follow be.”

“Wait, but, Keith-”

“Do, you lost the bet.”

Shiro deflated a little. Keith knew that Shiro was feeling guilty for giving him a bloody nose and was simply worried, but if he didn’t talk to Allura now Shiro was never going to do it.

Hunk seemed to understand something and told Shiro: “I’ll make sure he’s fine, the med equipment is actually pretty simple.”

Shiro sighed. “Alright.”

Keith picked up his jacket and walked out the door. He paused to let Hunk through and locked the door to the training room. Hunk raised an eyebrow at him, but didn’t say anything. 

**Scarlet, tell Kuro I’ll send the code once Shiro has done what he said he’d do.**

She chuckled,  **Will do.**

They walked in silence to the med bay, Keith too busy with his nose to focus on anything else. When they finally got there it had stopped bleeding and Keith tossed Shiro’s handkerchief in the chute down to the laundry. Hunk pronounced his nose not broken, but he should be careful with it as it  _ was _ bruised. Keith was ready to go back to the training room, if only to make sure Shiro did what he was supposed to, but Hunk asked: “Hey, Keith, when Coran and I fixed Scarlet after that last battle I noticed she has a really weird system of some sort in her back and I wanna figure out what it is and Scarlet won’t let anyone near her without you around and I think it might be kinda useful for you to know what it is considering it looked like a weapon system-”

“Yeah, I’ll come down to the hangar.”

“Yay!” Hunk said, doing a little dance. Keith smiled and followed him down to the hangar. On the way down, Hunk asked, “So, what bet did you make with Shiro?”

Keith blinked. “If I won he had to talk to Allura about Altean courtship rituals.”

Hunk looked at him, head tilted in confusion. “Whyyyyyyyy?”

“Because he needs to know them.”

“Wh-ooooooooooo. Wow he can be subtle when he wants to be.”

Keith sighed. Shiro was  _ not _ subtle where did this idea come from. “You didn’t have to sit through the Matt situation.”

“What was the Matt situation?”

“Pidge and I spent a whole year trying to get their idiot butts to admit they liked each other. We finally succeeded about a year before the Kerberos Mission.”

Hunk laughed. “He sounds like my cousin. What about Altean courtship rituals specifically are you trying to get Shiro to ask?”

“Polyamory. Which they have and is widely accepted, by the way.”

“Huh, cool. They must have a vastly different society than ours.”

Keith waved the door to the hanger open and was greeted with a happy growl from Scarlet. Her eyes lit up and she lowered her ramp, still rumbling. “Yeah, probably a vastly different government system, especially if they had a poly queen,” he said, walking towards her.

“People probably used that to try and get favors, didn’t they?”

“LIke they didn’t do basically the same thing on Earth. They just had another avenue of doing it.”

“Hmm, true.”

They stepped into Scarlet’s mouth and she stood to her full height.  **Hello, Cub.**

Keith could sense the suppressed feeling of a thousand happy smiley-face emojis behind her words and patted a wall.  **Hello, Scarlet. Mind if Hunk and I check out some of your systems?**

**Be my guest.**

Keith gave Hunk and thumbs up and they climbed further into Scarlet’s cargo bay. “What exactly are we looking for?”

“There was some wiring we replaced that wasn’t a materiel I’ve seen anywhere but the Lions along her back. There should be a panel access somewhere....”

Keith looked along the ceiling and spotted a small line where the handle of a hatch was. “There,” he pointed.

Hunk squinted at the ceiling. “I don’t see anything? The ceiling is just one solid thing but I swear there was a hatch somewhere.”

“Here, lift me up.”

Hunk obliged and made a seat with his hands, which Keith stepped on. He scrabbled at the ceiling for a moment before he found the almost invisible line and pulled. The hatch swung open to reveal the Lion’s inner workings. “Whoa, how’d you even see that?”

Keith shrugged and jumped down. “She’s my Lion?”

“I don’t suppose she has a ladder or something to help us up there, it’s not exactly a crawl space.” A hatch popped open on the other side of the cargobay, revealing several crates. “Oh. Question answered.” 

They dragged the crates over and created a sort of staircase up so Hunk could look. “Was polyamory the only thing you wanted Shiro and Allura to talk about?”

Keith paused in the middle of cleaning out one of Scarlet’s storage lockers. “Uhhh, asexuality.”

“And what did Allura say about that? I’m assuming you talked to her, otherwise I dunno how you knew about a polyamorous queen.”

He stared at the locker he had been cleaning out, at the half-eaten ration packs in his hands from the wormhole trip. “She said that we were commonly accepted. Maybe half the Altean population was asexual, or aunyérë for their word, and one was never assumed to be one or the other.”

Keith realized he had used “we” and stopped breathing for a moment. His head was whirlingwhirlingwhirling suddenly and then-

“Oh! That’s nice. I wonder what they thought of demi people like me.”

-stopped whirling. Oh. He took a deep breath to centre himself again. “Considering their stance, I’d bet demis were pretty common.”

“I wish Earth would take a hint from them.”

Keith snorted. “Earth could take a couple hints from them.”

“How different would our world be if asexals and aspec people were commonly accepted?”

Keith finally moved to throw the half-eaten rations in the recycler. “Well, advertizing might actually advertize what it says instead of half-naked models.”

“Oh god yep. And we wouldn’t have to deal with people shoving their sexuality in our faces all the time.”

“No, I think straight people would do that either way.”

“Good point. We both went through two years of high school and then a year at the Garrison, right? Hoh boy those people.”

“Actually I didn’t. I went to the Garrison a year early.”

Hunk moved his head out of the ceiling and looked at him. “Really? Well, you’re related to Shiro so I don’t know why that surprises me.”

Keith decided not to correct that, not feeling like explaining his family history. “Earth probably also wouldn’t have so much heteronormativity.”

“Less sex scandals, less weird media focus on sex.”

“Less sex scenes in movies.”

_ “Why _ is the motto always “Sex sells?””

“Because to allos it does.”

Further conversation was cut off when Scarlet growled.  **Your brother has done his assigned task.**

“Finally,” Keith muttered. “58A43CCCDC8.”

Hunk started laughing. “Is that hexadecimal for “finally?””

“Maybe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two more people??? Well maybe one I feel like Coran Knows All.  
> Heheheheeeeee I've got Plans.
> 
> Also the fight exists _purely_ because I wanted to write a broganes sparring match


	6. All Aces Are Played

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *its DONEEEEEEEE*

The first time it happened was actually the second, as Keith later remembered. Normally all the aliens they saved were courteous, respectful, and never got up in their space.

The Deixourxs? Not so much. They had no concept of personal space or personal questions and for some unknown reason they  _ really liked him. _ The team had barely been on the surface for ten minutes before three of them had slithered up to Keith, entirely too far into his personal space. “Ssssssaiv’tha, Paladin.”

“Uh, hello?”

“You are quite the capable pilot.” The alien did some weird slithering motion so it almost seemed like it was hanging half its body out in front of it. The alien was entirely too close and intent on leaning over him.

Keith froze up a little and tried to back away. “Thanks?” One of its paws did a little patting thing on its side. Keith really wanted to bolt but they all needed to be on the planet until Allura got there and there wasn’t exactly anywhere to bolt  _ to. _ Or a way through, for that matter. He glanced over at where Shiro had been and saw nothing but more aliens. 

“You smell good. Very different from your other Paladins.”

Keith  _ really _ did not want to be here right now. 

“Tell me, how are you of the same species but smell nothing like them?”

_ Really really really did not want to be here. _ “I... maybe you’re just smelling Lance’s array of soap?”

“No, your Blue Paladin smells much the same as the other three.  _ You, _ however.....”

Oh god get him out of here. 

“Oh! There you are, Keith, I was looking for you!”

Keith turned around and saw Lance sauntering up to him, flirty smile plastered on his face. Keith’s shoulders sagged with relief and he hoped his face wasn’t showing it. “Hey, Lance.”

“And hello, lovelies, I hope Mullet here isn’t being rude to you.”

The alien did an approximation of a laugh as Keith attempted to hide his indignation at that comment. “Oh no, the Red Paladin here is being just a gem! He was about to tell us what he does to make himself smell so different than the rest of you.”

Keith looked Lance in the eyes and brought out his best puppy-dog, “oh god please help me,” eyes. 

“Well, I’m sure Keith would be happy to tell you,” Lance started. Keith elbowed him in the ribs. “But Shiro’s calling us over so you’ll have to ask him later. Toodeloo!” 

Keith breathed a sigh of relief as Lance grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the tight circle the aliens had made around him. “Thanks.”

“Any time, Mullet Boy. That makes two times you have to pay be back for somehow.”

“Two?” Keith had a sudden vision of a dark haired girl in a Garrison uniform leaning over him. “Oh. Oh that was  _ you.” _

“Yep, that was me.”

“Well, thanks for that time too.”

“Keith, Lance, we need to go!”

“Coming, Shiro!” Lance called. Keith let himself be dragged along, thankful for anything that kept him away from the aliens.

Somehow, aliens just  _ kept flirting  _ with him. It happened five more times and Lance saved him five more times before Keith finally asked: “Why do you keep getting me out of these situations?”

“Well,” Lance drawled, still dragging Keith away from his latest attempted conquestor, “Flirting is kinda my way of getting to know new people? It’s an easy way to get information on someone and if you do it right you can get information on things other than the person too, like that Efiea that was coming on to you I learned about fruit from while I was trying to distract him from you. Remind me to tell Hunk to get some of the fruit from this place; Ubasan is native to this planet. Anyway yeah I don’t mind talking to people I don’t know it’s kinda fun actually and you’re about the most introverted person I know and visibly  _ hate _ talking to people  _ especially _ if they’re flirting with you so I’ve taken it upon myself to help you get out of those situations when I can.”

Keith blinked at Lance. “Uh, wow. Thanks. I say that every time but I really mean it.”

“You still haven’t payed me back for the first time, you know. Not important right now because we apparently have to go to a dance, though.”

A lot happened over the next year and a half or so. Keith found out he was part Galra, Shiro went missing, Keith took over piloting Kuro for a while, they found Shiro, then found Matt, Keith went and joined up with the Blade of Marmora, Lotor defected, Shiro turned out to be a clone and Keith had to pilot Kuro again, they found the real Shiro stuck in the experiment wing of a prison with the help of Matt’s faction, and the real Shiro, Allura, and Matt all ended up in the cutest relationship ever. 

Through it all, aliens kept flirting with Keith and Lance kept saving him. They grew closer, often spending nights just talking. More than once they accidentally stayed up most of the night doing absolutely nothing. While Keith led the team Lance was his second in command, reigning in his more aggressive and independent tendencies When Shiro got back, he ruffled Keith’s hair and told him he was growing into the leader he always thought he could be and he was so proud of how he was growing closer to the team. Keith cried and gave him his Lion back.

The team had just finished cleaning the Anadeia Cluster of Imperials and were on a bit of a publicity tour through the cluster and were stuck at formal event number..... Keith had lost count a while ago. The Gneomesans had invited them down for the night and Allura had agreed. Keith desperately wished they were still chasing down the fleet they had pushed out, sure that the Imperials were going to do something while they were down here partying and they couldn’t do  _ shit. _

Keith fidgeted his way through the ball, suit feeling like a cage. He somehow avoided being dragged onto the dance floor the entire night, leaning against a wall, watching the other Paladins and the rest of the team. Shiro took Matt for a spin and then Allura, Lance was chatting it up at the drink table, Hunk was close by talking with an engineer about shields, Pidge was poking at the sound system, Coran was talking with some important person, even Lotor was down on-planet, hiding in a corner like Keith was. 

Keith stifled a groan when a Gneomesan sidled up to him, obviously leering.  _ Why  _ was it always him? Did it have something to do with his being half-Galra? Did he give off something? Was he purple but not purple humans could see? Doused in ultraviolet?

“Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, Paladin.”

Keith glanced around the room desperately hoping Lance was in earshot, but he couldn’t even see him. His mind kept repeating  _ patience yields focus, patience yields focus. _

“How’d you get that pretty eye color?” 

“My mother.” He didn’t want to answer the Gneomesan, but he didn’t dare be rude.

“Ooooo well she did a good job with that face of yours.”

_ Oh god why where was Lance. _ “Uhm. Thanks?”

“What else you get from your mom?”

“Hey, Keith, sorry to drag you away from your buddy here but we gotta get back to the Castle. Hunk and Coran wanna fix the Lions after that last battle and you know how jumpy Scarlet gets without you and me around.”

Oh thank god there was Lance. Keith nodded and practically ran away from the Gneomesan. As soon as they got out of the room Keith slowed down a little. “How do you keep saving me?”

“I saw that dude across the room and basically sprinted over to you. Hunk and Coran really do want to work on the Lions but their self-healing programs have actually basically fixed them after the last battle.”

They settled into a comfortable silence on their way back to the Castle. Lance undid his tie and started whirling it around like a pinwheel while walking. Keith heard a noise and saw Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro a little ways behind them, evidently leaving the party as well. 

“Hey, Keith, can I ask you something maybe kinda personal?”

“Yeah?”

“I know that it’s common to be uncomfortable with flirting but you take it to like, next level, and I was wondering why kinda? I mean you  _ absolutely _ don’t have to answer I’m just curious and I’ll shut up now sorry.”

“Whoa hey, no, it’s fine, don’t apologize. I don’t actually know why? I’d never thought about it but I guess it’s because I’m ace and aro-spec and gay on top of super awkwardly introverted. I’d probably actually be fine with it if it was someone I knew but...” he trailed off and shrugged.

“Wait really? Cool, I’m bi-grace!”

Only then did Keith realize he’d causally come out to Lance without even thinking about it. It was actually a nice realization. He was comfortable enough in his identity to just let it out. He trusted Lance enough to tell him casually. He felt invigorated and happy, like he could float off the planet if he tried.

Then he realized what Lance had said.  _ “Oh my god every single one of us.” _

“Wait, really? Oh my god,” Lance giggled, “We’re a whole team of sp-aces.”

“We’ve all got aces up our sleeves to win this war.”

“We’re gonna ace everything they throw at us.”

Keith was really, really, really trying to keep a straight face but the minute he thought “straight face” he burst into giggles. Lance was bent over laughing next to him; Keith had his arms crossed holding on from laughter. The others caught up with them and looked quizzical. 

“What’s got you two in hysterics?” Shiro asked.

Keith gasped out between giggles: “We’re a team of ace pilots in so many senses of the word.” He watched as the other three processed what he’d said and their eyes widened.

“Oh my god really?” Pidge said, laughing, “How the hell did we not figure this out??”

“Because we’re all aspec and sexual attraction isn’t exactly something we talk about?” Shiro shrugged. “But seriously, that’s amazing. Glad to know we’ve all got something in common.”

“I told Allura I was leaving early to make a cake which was originally a lie but I think this calls for an ace flag cake.”

“YES! Let me help Hunk, pleaseeeee?” Lance finally managed to calm his laughter. 

“Alright buddy, just promise to not mix up all the ingredients again.”

“YAY!” Lance did a little dance and started following Hunk into the Castle, but quickly turned around and stood in front of Keith. “Hey, I think I know how you can pay me back for me saving your butt for the tenth time?”

Keith raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Continue being a magician, ‘cause every time I look at you everyone else disappears.” Lance winked and then ran to follow Hunk.

Keith was redder than his Lion. He watched Lance as he ran and felt Shiro and Pidge trying to keep straight faces behind him. “Guys.”

“Yes, Keith?”

“I’m really heckin’ gay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's done??? This is my twenty-fifth work and the longest thing I've written and published to date and I love it and I love all the comments on it I just,,,, I'm so glad I've finally made something with ace Keith I've been meaning to basically since I first watched Voltron I just never had an idea but I was looking back this week and thought it'd be really good to chronicle some of my experiences and that Keith would probably have many of the same experiences and maybe I should write a fic because MAYBE I could help other people discover themselves and the best way to find things out is relating to characters and why not write one of my favorite characters for my fic and here we are.
> 
> For anyone who wants, [here is a link to AVEN's definition of asexuality](http://www.asexuality.org/?q=overview.html) and [here is Fuck Yeah Asexual](https://fuckyeahasexual.tumblr.com) who've helped me so much in my journey over the past year. 
> 
> Yet another thank you to acecord and my personal Qrew. I love you all :)


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